Blackjack Tips

"If it is all that time, one hundred and fifty-seven coins spun ... consecutively have come down heads ... one hundred and fifty-seven consecutive times, and all you can do is play with your food."- From Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard

Blackjack has earned its place as the most popular casino table game for two main reasons. First, the house edge is typically less than any other table game, making it very cheap for the recreational player. Second, its notoriety as a game that is beatable by card counting and other methods.

One of the most valuable resources for researching blackjack is appendix 4 at the Wizard of Odds website.

In this post I considered ordinary blackjack card counting (BJCC) for six decks. The purpose of that post was to compare BJCC to card counting the various side bets for the six-deck shoe game. This post presents the analysis for the two-deck game.

Casinos around the world are getting hit by advantage play teams involved in various schemes that allow them to predict when Aces and ten-valued cards are likely to be dealt. When I searched the literature for the edges possible from this type of play, I was surprised to find that these numbers are not publicly available.

One of my informal rules for this blog is that I don’t consider ordinary blackjack card counting (BJCC). Any easy Google search reveals myriad resources that give the minutia of every aspect of BJCC. At least three generations of APs have dedicated themselves to this game. For my purposes, the question is: how does BJCC stack up against card counting blackjack side bets?

The most frequent decision that you will have to make when you play blackjack in either a land-based or online casino is whether to hit or stand. That’s why it’s important that you know the correct basic strategy rules for this decision.

Why is it that most blackjack players lose at a casino game that is beatable? It’s because they often make some or all of the following common mistakes.

 MISTAKE 1: NOT CHECKING THE PLAYING RULES

Understanding the number of decks used and the rules being applied are a vital part of advantage player’s strategy when attacking blackjack games for profit.

Pair Square (PS) is a simple-minded blackjack side bet that pays if the player’s first two cards are a pair. There is a premium payout if the pair is suited. This bet is also known by the name “Bet the Set,” though I have never understood that name, as a “set” usually refers to Three-of-a-Kind in poker.

Low-limit blackjack is a tough game for the casino. A blackjack table with two or three reasonably knowledgeable players each betting $5 to $10 per hand may be operating at a net loss for the casino. If the table has shallow cut card placement and a lengthy shuffle procedure then it is a sure loser.

It continues to amaze me that my posts on the 21 + 3 blackjack side bet are among the most frequently viewed articles on this site. This post (Beating the 21+3 Blackjack Side Bet) tops the list. Out of curiosity, I created a computer program to look at how the edge for 21 + 3 changes as hands are dealt from a shoe.

The Royal Match (RM) wager is one of the oldest blackjack side bets still available. It pays if the player’s first two cards are the same suit. If the cards form the rare hand KQ suited, then there is a premium payout.  It is intuitively clear that there must be situations where the player has the edge.

The 21 + 3 (TP3) blackjack side bet is based on examining the player’s two cards and the dealer’s up-card. If the three cards form a flush, straight, three-of-a-kind or straight flush, the player wins. The payout for a winning TP3 wager is a flat 9-to-1 and the game has a modest house edge of 3.239%. Recently, several casino sources expressed concern about advantage play against TP3.